Re: "IS NOT NULL" != "NOT NULL"

From: Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: Vince Vielhaber <vev(at)michvhf(dot)com>, Sean Chittenden <sean(at)chittenden(dot)org>, pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: "IS NOT NULL" != "NOT NULL"
Date: 2002-01-20 00:32:55
Message-ID: 200201200032.g0K0WtT18841@candle.pha.pa.us
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> I've been told that Oracle fails to distinguish empty strings from
> NULL, which if true is a clear violation of the SQL specification.
> If you're used to Oracle then that might help explain your confusion :-(
>
> Another problem is that SQL's boolean operations act as though NULL
> is the logical value UNKNOWN, rather than explicitly setting up a
> boolean datatype with the three allowed values TRUE, FALSE, UNKNOWN.
> While the rules for propagation of NULL happen to be similar to the
> results that logic dictates you get for UNKNOWN, this is still a kind
> of type pun, and it doesn't help to reduce the confusion any.

My book does deal with this NULL distinction:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/awbook.html

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